1.In use for more than a decade at some high-security government institutions in the United States and Canada, biometrics, the use of physical or biological characteristics to identify individuals, are now rapidly popping up in the everyday world. Already, more than 10,000 facilities, from prisons to day-care centres, monitor people's fingerprints or other physical parts to ensure that they are who they claim to be.
2. Biometric security systems operate by storing a digitised record of some unique human features. When an authorised user wishes to enter or use the facility, the system scans the person's corresponding characteristics and attempts to match them against those on record. Systems using fingerprints, hands, voices, irises, retinas, and faces are already on the market. Others using typing patterns and even body odours are in various stages of development.
3. Fingerprint scanners are currently the most widely deployed type of biometric application, thanks to their growing use over the last 20 years by law enforcement agencies. Sixteen American states now use biometric fingerprint verification systems to check that people claiming welfare payments are genuine. In June, politicians in Toronto voted to do the same, with a pilot project beginning next year.
4. To date, the most widely used commercial biometric system is the handkey, a type of hand scanner which reads the unique shape, size and irregularities of people's hands. Originally developed for nuclear power plants, the handkey received its big break when it was used to control access to the Olympic Village in Atlanta by more than 65,000 athletes, trainers and support staff. Now there are scores of other applications.
5. Around the world, the market is growing rapidly. Malaysia, for example, is preparing to equip all of its airports with biometric face scanners to match passengers with luggage. And Japan's largest maker of cash dispensers is developing new machines that incorporate iris scanners. The first commercial biometric, a hand reader used by an American firm to monitor employee attendance, was introduced in 1974. But only in the past few years has the technology improved enough for the prices to drop sufficiently to make them commercially viable.
Choose an option (A, B, C, or D) that best answers each question.

1. The market for tourism in remote areas is booming as never before. Countries are actively promoting their 'wilderness' regions - such as mountains, Arctic lands, deserts, small islands and wetlands - to high-spending tourists. The attraction is obvious: wilderness tourism requires little or no initial investment. But these regions are fragile not just in terms of ecology, but also in the culture of their inhabitants. The three most significant fragile environments are deserts, mountains and Arctic areas. An important characteristic is their marked seasonality, with harsh conditions prevailing for many months. Consequently, most human activities, including tourism, are limited to certain parts of the year.
2. Tourists are drawn to these regions by their natural beauty and the unique cultures of indigenous people. Poor governments in these isolated areas have welcomed ‘adventure tourists’, grateful for the hard currency they bring. For several years, tourism has been the prime source of foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan. It is also a key element in the economies of Arctic zones such as Lapland and Alaska and in desert areas such as Ayers Rock in Australia.
3. Once a location is established as a tourist destination, the effects on the local community are profound. Hill farmers may abandon farming to work as porters, causing a decline in farm output and changes in diet. In Arctic and desert societies, some inhabitants involved in tourism no longer collect wild food, leading to dependence on bought food. The dilemma is what happens if these external sources of income dry up.
4. The physical impact of visitors is another problem. Much attention has focused on erosion along trails, but also deforestation and impacts on water supplies from the need to provide tourists with cooked food and hot showers. In both mountains and deserts, slow-growing trees are the main sources of fuel and water supplies may be limited.
5. Although tourism inevitably affects fragile environments, the costs can be minimized. It can even reinvigorate local cultures, as with the Sherpas of Nepal. In the Swiss Alps, communities have integrated tourism with local economies and revived cheese production. Some Arctic and desert communities now operate tour businesses themselves, ensuring benefits accrue locally.
6. Too many people in fragile environments have lost control over their economies and culture when tourism has penetrated their homelands. Instead, communities must achieve greater control over tourism ventures to balance their needs with tourism demands. A growing number are demonstrating that, with communal decision-making, this is possible.
Choose an option (A, B, C, or D) that best answers each question.